If I were to suggest to my fellow Welshmen and women that the resentment some of them have in their hearts towards the English is not a helpful thing but that it is actually a sin, what would that make me? Would it make me an enemy of my nation? If I were to point out that actually, far from helping our cause, such resentment detracts from it, would that make me anti-Welsh?

Or let me give you another scenario –...

Usually when a politician is described as being plain-speaking they’re backbench mavericks. Dennis Skinner is plain-speaking; Nick Winterton too. Rarely do we hear of a front-bencher or a high-ranking minister being acclaimed for speaking their mind openly and honestly. But maybe things are changing with this new government. This week alone we’ve had a health minister – albeit in a ‘personal capacity’ â...

DC launching the Big Socieity - though I've no idea who the woman in the funny hat is.

During the election David Cameron’s idea about a ‘big society’ was dismissed as fluff. Yesterday, however, he offered us some details of how it could work and set up a number of regions where trials would be put in place. I particularly like the fact that there are pilot schemes being set up before the whole policy goes nationwide – ...

I’ll jump straight in – for this probably won’t be a popular post – but I think that overall and considering how bad the country’s debts are, that was a fair budget. Is it right to freeze child allowance for three years? No, I don’t suppose it is. What about the VAT hike – well it will hit the poorest the hardest, no doubt. So there are some negatives in there, I accept.

But overall this was fair. ...

Yesterday we expected that a Conservative/Lib Dem government would have been formed, but when Gordon Brown resigned at tea time all bets were off and Labour back in the running. The interesting thing about a potential Lib/Lab pact, however, is that they would have to depend on other smaller parties for they would not command an overall majority in the House of Commons. Those parties would include both the SNP and...

It’s the Monday after the General Election and I had thought that today’s post could steer away from the political world. After all, we normally have a new government in place by now in the UK and the Monday papers would merely comment on who got what in the Cabinet.  Things are different this time, though – reflecting the confusion in the minds of the electorate. Of course, here in Wales, like Scotland, we...

Well we have our balanced parliament – but our guy won’t be there. We’re very disappointed, obviously. Dylan fought a long and hard campaign. But with the Labour vote holding up so well it was always going to be difficult to win here on Anglesey.

Having had little sleep overnight I’m not sure I can come up with any great insights about the election results in general, but I’ll try! Labour’s final wee...

Apologies that the blogging has been light during the past two weeks. We had expected to be in the US and the plan was to blog my experiences there, but as you know, we never made it. We did manage a relaxing holiday in Dorset, however, in a lovely cottage in a tiny village outside Bridport.

Being in Dorset allowed me to follow the UK general election. We spent most of our time in an area covered by two constitue...

Bullying and politics seem to go together. Gordon Brown should not feel isolated in his current situation of being fingered as a work-place bully – he is in good company in the Palace of Westminster. The stories about his rage towards colleagues have been around for a long time and those of us who enjoy the political blogoshpere have not been surprised by the latest revelations. Stories about his loyal lieutena...

It’s been a bizarre week in international politics. First, the story that is still gradually being revealed about the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai: now widely thought to have been perpetrated by the Israeli secret service, Mossad. As if that isn’t outrageous enough there is an extra twist in the tail for us in the UK as we hear that those responsible were travelling with British passports. A story worthy of a Bond movie, surely.

And second the rather peculiar visit o...

Iran, the UK, and torture

Is there any connection between the violent suppression of protests in Iran on Wednesday and the news revealed on the same day that the Labour government had allegedly tried to silence those local authority leaders from within its own party on the issue of long term care of the elderly in England? You might argue that there is very little that can be compared between these two incidents and you may well be correct.

The situation in Iran is very different to ...